Enargeia in classical antiquity and the early modern age : the aesthetics of evidence / / by Heinrich F. Plett.

• Superior document: International studies in the history of rhetoric, vol. 4
• Author: Plett, Heinrich F.
• Year of Publication: 2012
• Language: English
• Series: International studies in the history of rhetoric ; v. 4.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (252 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

The present study provides an extensive treatment of the topic of enargeia on the basis of the classical and humanist sources of its theoretical foundation. These serve as the basis for detailed analyses of verbal and pictorial works of the Classical Antiquity and the Early Modern Age. Their theoretical basis is the tradition of classical rhetoric with its principal representatives (Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian) and their reception history. The ‘enargetic’ approach to the arts may be described as rhetoric of presence and display, or aesthetics of evidence and imagination. Visual imagination plays a major role in the concepts of effect in oratory, poetry, and drama of the Classical Antiquity and the Early Modern Age. Its implementations are manifested in the Second Sophistic and in the Early Modern Age, there above all in the works of William Shakespeare.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- Prologue -- I Classical Sources and Their Humanist Reception -- II Enargeia in Humanist Writings and Its Theoretical Foundation -- III Shakespeare and Enargeia (A) -- IV Ekphraseis of Places and Pictures -- V Enargetic Representations of Persons -- VI The Poetics of Ekphrasis and Enargeia -- VII Enargeia in Teichoscopy and Messenger’s Report -- VIII Shakespeare and Enargeia (B) -- IX Enargeia in Operatic Libretti -- X Enargeia in Mnemonics and Meditation -- XI Enargeia and the Visual Arts -- XII Ut Pictura Poesis -- XIII Enargeia and Perspective -- XIV Shakespeare and Enargeia (C) -- XV Enargeia in Theory and Practice of the Visual and Verbal Arts -- XVI The Enargeia of Music in Theory and Practice -- Epilogue -- Bibliography: ‘Enargeia’ and Related Terms -- Index of Names -- Index of Subjects.